Fallout: New Vegas Review

Along the way, you learn about the warring factions of the Mojave desert, and the game lets you decide which factions with which to ally yourself. The big shots this time around are the NCR, or New California Republic, and Caesar's Legion. While the NCR focus on unifying the deserts like the Brotherhood of Steel in previous games, the Caesar's Legion hold a “might makes right” sort of mentality reminiscent of a Mad Max movie. There are also many other smaller groups which you can align yourself with, each one with their own ideals which may or may not affect your standing with other groups. Which points out another notable return to the Fallout series: the reputation tracker. In each location you visit, you get a fame rating depending on how you interact with the locals. You can very easily become loved in one town and shot on sight in the very next one. You can even persuade certain individuals to accompany you as well, and interacting with them is much easier than in Fallout 3, where you had to issue all orders through dialogue choices. Instead, there's a rather simple menu wheel in place when you talk to your companions, where you are able to give orders or trade items. And they're not just hired guns, either. Each one has their own backstory and personal grudges against the various factions of the wasteland, so bringing the wrong companion with you can have dire consequences.

A new addition to the series is Hardcore mode, which puts the game as close to realistic as Fallout may ever get. Normally, certain “essential” characters can't be harmed so you can always progress the story however you like. In Hardcore mode, all NPCs can permanently die, which includes companions and quest givers. In addition, you also have to eat and drink regularly or face dehydration and starvation, which will prevent you from being able to fast travel and will eventually kill you. You have to sleep regularly or face keeling over from exhaustion. Ammunition has weight, so carrying thousands of bullets takes its toll. While all of these regulations are optional, playing in Hardcore mode really does add an extra degree of gritty realism to an already bleak game. Fans of the older games may recall that they weren't necessarily so bleak and dismal, and would often incorporate some pop culture references. For those gamers, there is an optional trait you can choose at character creation called Wild Wasteland that adds just that: tongue-in-cheek pop references. With this trait, you may come across special encounters that you otherwise might not, such as a fridge that appears to have survived a nuclear blast, but with a charred skeleton and a “suave adventurer's hat” inside. Letting the gamers decide how serious or ridiculous they want their game to be is a truly brilliant move.

While the game shines in most other areas, the soundtrack to New Vegas does leave a bit to be desired. Like in Fallout 3, your PipBoy is able to pick up radio frequencies depending on your location, and also like Fallout 3 the number of songs leaves a bit to be desired. While I suppose if you think of this in the context of the game, where people are probably unable to find too many records that survived for thousands of years, hearing the same few songs on shuffle repeatedly does makes sense. To the player, however, hearing the same fifteen or so songs on shuffle for hours on end does tend to grate on ones nerves. The amazing ambient soundtrack, however, more than makes up for this. When you turn your radio off, you hear the wind blowing through the leaves of what few trees remain, or a lone coyote howl off in the distance. You hear your footsteps crunch the rubble of destroyed highways. Gunfire from who knows where echoes through the valleys, leaving you to wonder if that skirmish is anywhere near you. All of this more than makes up for the lack of radio variety.

At $49.99, New Vegas is currently available for PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3, and all three are promised new DLC in early January. Like every other Fallout game, multiplayer is nonexistent. There's more than enough replay value to find for yourself, however, since practically every faction changes the outcome of the game. Do you help solders run the Hoover Dam to supply fresh water and electricity to everyone in the region, or do you conquer it and make everyone pay you? Do you help someone overthrow a casino, or do you take it over by yourself? And from there, do you try to take over the entire New Vegas strip? All of these choices, and more, wait for you in Fallout: New Vegas.